Stolen
by Pica Britanica
Summary: Imagine this, Scipio is caught before he can use the merry-go-round and his father sends him to boarding school in England. But he is kidnapped and held to ransom, can his friends save him in time?. Enjoy, Scipio & O/C
1. Scipio: Life At St Pat

**A/N: Hi, this is a story that I've been wanting to work on for a while. So after some random ramblings from me, we shall begin.**

**By the way, I don't own The Thief Lord, or else I wouldn't be on this site now would I?**

**Right, now that's over and done with... Enjoy**

Scipio

I walked along the heaving corridor of my new school in silence, my head hung low as I walked past the infamous gang of bullies, led by Jake Stone. "Oi Massimo!" I winced as I heard my name, I'd been spotted.

I turned my head slightly to look at the tall, wide seventeen year old beside me; I could almost see why people thought he was scary. He was a head and shoulders taller than me and built like an elephant, I cleared my throat and said, "Yes Stone?"

Stone snarled at me and grabbed me by the shoulder, pinning me to the wall, "You' best start talking nicer to me, Massimo, or I'm gonna have to get my mates involved, and I can assure you, you don't want that." He waited for me to say something or struggle against him, but when I didn't he got bored and stalked away, after shoving me against the wall again for good measure.

I let out a sigh and began picking up my books from the middle of the corridor floor, a new friend of mine called Alexi came running over, "Man I thought you were dead meat!" he said hurriedly in his wonderfully foreign accent. Alexi was Russian, and much like the prince Alexi we were learning about in modern history, he was very delicate.

I gave a laugh and muttered, "Yeah, so did I."

Alexi shook his head and scowled, "someone needs to teach those jerks a lesson!"

"Ok, off you go then," I laughed as I pushed him forward; he flailed in protest and tried to bat my hands away. Finally I gave up, mainly because I was laughing so hard my ribs hurt, and Alexi turned to me with a red face.

"Scipio, you are a pig sometimes, do you know that!" he gasped, I picked up the last of my books and checked my watch, we still had 30 minutes before lunch was over and I was bored.

"Come on Lex, I wan to see some sunlight before we have to go to the dungeon for the afternoon." We headed out into the courtyard in front of the school, it was your classic old, posh school at St Patrick's, there was ivy running up the building and the courtyards were ever so picturesque. I hated every bit of it. I hated the fact that my father had shoved me in this portentous school for twits because I was 'too common' for his liking.

Father had sent me to St Pat's after the police had found the gang at the Stella; I couldn't face the guys after father had told me I was moving away. I didn't even tell them in person, I slipped a note through the door one night and ran away. I missed them so much, I missed Bo's smiling little face, and the boys, my best friends had been ripped away from me, I even found recently I was missing Hornet, with her sharp tongue and intellect. I could have made a bet that she had more intelligence than all these pompous Barbie dolls at St Patrick's put together. And she was prettier too, much prettier! Not that I'd ever tell her that… if I ever got the chance to tell her that, if I ever saw her again… The thought of not seeing my friends again brought a stray tear to my eye, but I quickly swiped it away.

Alexi and I made our way through the courtyard to the more private, shaded area around the side of the building. This area had become known over the years as _The Hollow_, it was the best place to meet up without other people hearing your conversation, and sadly it was a popular spot for couples. As we arrived at the hollow I noticed Belinda Metcalfe and Jeremy Foster over by the tree. Jeremy was a weed of a guy and honestly, Bell wasn't much better. I coughed very loudly and the pair's heads whipped around faster than a greyhound could run.

"Hey guys," I smiled cheerily as I stepped under the trellis arch. They stood up quickly and Jeremy blushed bright red, "don't worry, we didn't see anything," I laughed, "We just wanted some space before lessons start, we're in the dungeon again Bells."

"Oh, ok…" Belinda said quickly as she picked up her bag and hurried out, dragging poor Jeremy with her.

I chuckled and sat down on the cool green grass, Alexi sat on a bench nearby and pulled out a book, it was Russian so I couldn't read the title, "What you reading?" I asked casually as I lay down and closed my eyes.

Alexi's voice floated over to me, "It's about the revolution, it's really quite interesting Scipio, you should give it a go."  
>"I don't know any Russian though Lex," I grinned.<p>

"You know what I mean, the subject is interesting." Alexi sighed exasperatedly.

"Its history, therefore it's boring," I decided.

"Whatever," Alexi muttered as he went back to reading.

We stayed in silence for a while before a shadow blocked my sunlight, I opened my eyes to see Evangeline Caine stood over me with a smirk on her face, "Hello Scipio, how are you this fine day?" she asked coolly.

"Well, I was great until some freak came and blocked my sunlight," I said cheerily.

She gave me a playful boot in the ribs and helped me up, "Come on you fool," she laughed in her very British accent, "We have Mahoney and I'm not being late again."

She turned and began to walk away from us, her hips sashaying slightly as she strutted through the courtyard. Eva Caine looked like the sweetest, most innocent girl in the world, but she had been thrown out of every other private school in England. This was, as her teachers kept reminding her, her last chance before state school, and boy did she revel in it. She, like Alexi and me, hated St Patrick's school with a passion. We were outcasts among the social elite of the world, and everyone knew it.

She was wearing the shortest skirt she could get away with and a thick leather belt around her tiny waist. She was such a flirt it was unreal, she turned the head of every boy in the yard as she passed and even some of the girls' eyes followed her across to the doors. As she reached the doors she turned and smiled at me, "Well, come on Massimo, we have to get to the dungeon before we're late again." She glanced down at the pocket watch hanging from her belt, "Damn, oh well. Why change the habits of a life time?" she laughed as we ran along the corridors to the dungeons, we were already late.

We raced into Chem Lab 12 and I almost skidded straight into my teacher, Mr Mahoney. He looked a lot like a parrot crossed with Einstein; he was wearing his signature lab coat over a brightly coloured shirt and trousers. "You're late," he squawked.

"Sorry sir," Eva said, her face instantly changed from the darkly coquettish girl in the playground to an innocent little angel, "It's my fault we're late. I got lost and Master Massimo and Master Repin came and found me, to be honest I think they deserve checks each for being such gentlemen."

I fought a laugh and did my best to keep a straight face, it was very hard though. Eva on the other hand had the straightest face I'd ever seen, she gave Mahoney a cool stare before he finally spoke.

"Take your seats," He snapped as he stormed away to the black board.

**A/N: So, did you enjoy it? I hope you did. Anyway, if you did I would appreciate some reviews... Thank you.**


	2. Eva: In the Dungeon

**A/N: Boo! Made you jump didn't I? I didn't… oh, oh well. Here is the second chapter of Stolen, hope you enjoy. Just making sure you know, I don't own Thief Lord at all, which means I don't own Scipio Massimo, which is a shame.**

Eva

"Master Massimo, come up to the board and show us how to balance this equation," Mahoney grumbled as he held out the chalk.

Scipio looked up from his drawing and frowned for a moment. He glanced across at me and shrugged, I shook my head and he sighed. He stood up slowly and weaved his way to the front of the dark little room. He took the chalk from Mahoney and began scraping it against the blackboard, the chalk leaving behind Scipio's answer.

Mahoney sighed and shook his head, "No Master Massimo, that isn't anywhere near the answer, get back to your seat and see me after." He turned back to the board and wrote the correct answer in his scribbly handwriting, quite the contrast to the beautiful flowing equation Scipio had written.

Scipio rolled his eyes as he wandered back to his seat; he came past my desk and knocked my textbook on the floor. "Sorry, sorry, I'll get it!" he said loudly, bobbing down beside me to pick it up. He glanced up at me and smiled; I watched carefully as he slipped a piece of paper into the book and put it on my desk. He walked away to his own desk and I gently pulled the paper out, on it Scipio had written:

'_Meet at midnight where the shade lives.'_

I smiled and glanced across at him, and suddenly his eyes locked with mine, and I melted. My dear Scipio, such a hopeless romantic, it had been three months since we had mutually agreed we should go out, and already we were meeting in secret. I spent the rest of the lesson stealing glances at Scipio, who spent most of his time doodling on his book.

As the bell rang, loudly telling us that the lesson was finally over, Scipio looked up and grinned. He shoved his books and pens into his bag and headed over to my desk. 'Hey beautiful!' he smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist.

'Hey,' I smiled back, unable to stop myself.

'Master Scipio, a word please,' Mahoney called from the front of the room, Scipio sighed and rolled his eyes at me.

'I'll meet you in the cafeteria,' I whispered in his ear, I gave him a quick kiss and hopped off the desk and out of the room.

Alexi was waiting for us outside, 'Erm, hi Eva, where's Scipio?' he asked nervously.

'Mahoney wanted to talk to him. I reckon we should head up to the cafeteria and get a seat before they're all taken,' I laughed and hitched my bag further on to my shoulder.

Alexi nodded, 'Yeah ok. I'll go grab a table, you wait here for Scipio. He'll probably want to have a rant before we meet up.' He smiled, 'No, he _will_ want a rant.'

'Ok, we'll meet you up there,' I waved as he ran up the steps two at a time and out of sight.

A few seconds later Scipio stormed out of the classroom and almost straight into me. 'Hey babe, calm down!' I soothed as he rested his head on my shoulder. He was slightly taller than me, but not so tall that I had to go up on tiptoes to kiss him.

'Right, let's get out of here,' Scipio sighed, and with a last, venomous look in the direction of Mahoney's classroom we skipped up the stairs and came out in the heaving corridor. 'I hate this place,' Scipio muttered as we weaved through the crowds towards the cafeteria.

'I know right?' I grinned and pulled on Scipio's tailored blazer, dragging him through the crowd. 'Hey guys, move!' I cried, and as hoped people moved out of our way. I smiled at one of the younger guys who moved as I bounced past him.

'You're a strange girl do you know that?' Scipio laughed as I climbed on to a nearby table to find Alexi; I spotted him in the nearest corner.

'Thank you dear,' I stuck my tongue out at him and ran across to Alexi. 'Boo! Did I scare you?' I asked him breathlessly as I collapsed into my seat.

'Not really,' Alexi frowned, his nose stuck in his text book.

'Spoil sport,' I laughed, watching Scipio settle into his seat across from mine and pushing his gorgeous black hair out of his dark chocolate eyes.

'Give up,' Scipio laughed, shaking his head to release his hair from my grip. He was about to say something when there was a loud bang. I whirled around and saw a man in a black mask at the main door, a quick glance around the room and I could see more men in black masks scattered around the room. Someone screamed as the men moved in closer.

The guy at the main door stood for a moment, 'Scipio Massimo, show yourself!'

**A/N: Yeah, I hate cliffhangers. Oh well, I know that this is on the whole a very mushy chapter, but I thought it needed some. There aren't many Fanfics with Scipio being happy from the start. I like happy Scipio, and I think he likes it too.**

**Scipio: yeah I do.**

**A/N: There you go then. Please R&R. :)**


	3. Scipio: Show Yourself

**A/N: Hello again, I know this has taken me soooo long to update this, but college has finally taken over my life. Anyhow, please note I don't own Thief Lord, and please review – I may be enticed into writing quicker if you review. Please note there has been a slight change to the summary but it won't change much of the plot. **

Scipio

The guy at the main door stood for a moment, "Scipio Massimo, show yourself!"

My breathing quickened and all I could hear was blood surging in my ears, I felt a delicate hand on my arm and glanced at Eva. She looked as scared as I felt, "Scip, don't," she whispered shakily.

"I'll say it again," the masked guy said coldly, "Massimo, show yourself, or I'll have to do something you'll regret." He very purposely pointed his gun at a nearby girl from one of the lower years, she whimpered in the silence. The look in her eyes was unbearable, she was terrified and I didn't blame her. One of the teachers, Miss Jerome, pushed her way to the front of the room. "You aren't Massimo, who are you?"

"I'm a teacher here, and I can't allow you to do this," Miss Jerome said, her voice shaking.

The masked guy threw his head back and laughed, "And you're going to stop us are you?" he asked coldly, waving his the gun in her face.

"If I have to," I suddenly felt a lot of admiration for this woman, I'd never really spoken to her much, but I wish I had. Because the next second the gun flashed and Miss Jerome hit the floor.

I felt myself running from my seat and towards the bleeding teacher at the front doors, people were screaming around me and I had to shove some of them out of my way. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos I heard Eva screaming my name, but I kept running until I was next to Miss Jerome's shaking, bloodied body.

"You didn't have to do that," I said hoarsely, looking up at the masked man. I brushed hair from Miss Jerome's face, "I'm so sorry, you didn't have to die for me," I whispered in her ear as she took my hand.

"We have a duty… Scipio, to look after you lot..." Miss Jerome murmured as she smiled up at me, she opened her mouth to say something else, but the words never came. Her eyes rolled back and flickered closed, but her mouth stayed half open, her unspoken words still frozen on her lips.

I looked up at the man and took a deep breath, "Why did you kill her?" I asked, my voice sounding a lot calmer than I felt.

"She was in my way," the man shrugged, "so, who's gonna give me Massimo?" he opened his arms out to the room.

"I'm Scipio Massimo. What do you want?" I said, I faintly heard Eva calling me again, but only faintly.

"Scipio, no don't!" Eva cried, she ran up beside me and dragged on my arm. I pushed her away and stood my ground.

"What do you want?" I asked again, looking the masked man straight in his cold blue eyes.

I saw the man smile beneath his mask, and he tilted his head forward, "Basically, I want you to join me and my friends on a little jaunt. As long as you do as we ask, no-one will get hurt."

I shivered as he whispered those last words, they cut right through me and I glanced back at the lifeless body of poor Miss Jerome, "I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt anyone else," I hung my head and allowed the masked man to push me out of the room and into a black van. I heard a scream from behind me and chaos erupted, the man grabbed me and shoved me further into the van. I turned back just in time to see Eva run out of the school and into the car park behind me. The doors slammed shut and I lost sight of my beautiful Eva, I thought that would be the last time I ever saw her again.

The man in the back of the van with me looked at me with a hard and stony look for a while, and still watching me, he knocked on the metal wall between us and the driver, and the van sped off out of the school gates and off to goodness knows where! The windows had all been blacked out so I hadn't a clue where we were headed. I sat in silence for a while, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The man finally took off his black ski mask to reveal the face of a man who had obviously seen great pain, "Scipio," he said my name gently, "I don't intend to hurt you, but if you try to make trouble…" he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and allowed me to finish that sentence for myself. He handed me a bottle of water, "Want some?" he asked.

Cautiously I took the bottle and eyed its contents, "Why are you giving me water? I thought I was your hostage," I frowned, this was by far the most surreal thing that had happened to me, and I had done some surreal things in my time.

"Just drink it," the guy barked, making me jump. I quickly took a swig of the fresh cool water, and realised I was actually quite thirsty, so I drank as much as I could without my lungs burning for air. After a few seconds my vision began to blur, and I felt drowsy. They had drugged me. I gave a half-hearted laugh before I succumbed to the darkness that was slowly engulfing me.

**A/N: So reviews? Good or bad will be fine, just as long as there are some. (I'd prefer good ones) ;)**

**Mags**


	4. Eva: Somewhere called the Stella?

**A/N: So then… chapter four. I still don't own any of this, I just wish I did. **

Eva

I ran out of the building screaming Scip's name, and watched in horror as he was shoved into the back of a black van and driven away. I felt my knees buckle under me as the van veered away from the school, I crashed to the ground sobbing like a lost child.

Alexi came up next to me, huffing from the small amount of exercise, "Eva, are you ok?" he asked tentatively.

I couldn't answer him; my voice had been stolen from me along with my boyfriend. My throat was hoarse from screaming his name, tears streamed uncontrollably down my face; I was shaking with anger and pain. I felt like someone had ripped a hole in my chest, I gasped for breath between the wracking sobs that overtook me.

"Eva, come on let's get you inside," I heard someone say, I felt a pair of hands take my own and help me up, then someone led me through the car park and up to my dorm. "Alexi, you too," the voice said calmly. I looked up at the person who had led me away, it was a senior student who shared my dorm; her name was Katherine. She was very calm considering what had just happened in the dining hall; she sat me and Alexi down in my room and got us both a drink of water.

"Lex?" I whispered, my voice still sore.

"Hmm? What is it?" he asked, concern filling his voice.

"Do you think he's alright?" I asked, I knew he couldn't possibly answer such a question, but he smiled and wrapped his arm around me, I took the hug willingly.

Katherine came back over to us with two glasses of water and a chocolate bar each, "Eva, I know this is hard, but I need to know something. Did you know about Scipio's father?" she asked cautiously.

I frowned and shook my head, "Scip never told me anything about his father, why?"

Kate frowned, "His father is a very important man in Italy, and those men… the ones who took Scipio, well, he owes them big time."

I glanced up at her, "How do you know all this?" I asked, suddenly very wary of the girl I had thought of as a friend.

"One of the leaders of those men is my uncle… Eva, please don't hate me for this," I noticed she was shaking, "I was their insider, I told them how to kidnap Scipio."

My hand flew up and I punched her, square in the face, before leaping away from her and dragging poor Alexi with me, "You cow!" I shrieked, "You did this!"

Kate shook her head, tears pouring down her bruising face, "I never knew they'd go so far. I had no choice Eva, they, oh God!" she sobbed and her hand flew to her mouth. I felt sick watching her, I could barely stand being in the same room as her. I was about to leave when Kate cried out, "Please! Don't go, I can tell you where they've taken him. And I know someone who can help you get him back. Just don't tell anyone I was involved, they'll kill me." There was genuine fear in this girl's eyes, and for some reason I couldn't move, I couldn't say anything.

In the end it was Lex who broke the awful silence that followed Kate's outburst, "Tell us what you know, and then get out of our lives forever." He suddenly lost all his childlike vulnerability, and instead stood in front of the door, his hands across his chest, oozing authority. For a moment, I feared him.

Kate took a deep breath and nodded, "You won't ever see me again," she promised, "They've taken him to Italy, where their headquarters is. But I know of a young boy there, who Scipio knew also, he worked for my uncle for a short while. He can help you free Scipio, because I don't think his father will." She looked at me, obviously hoping for some sort of response, but got none so she carried on, "The boy's name is Riccio; there are more who can help though." She pulled a sheet of paper out of her notepad and scribbled something down, "here, this is how to find Riccio and the others. Now please can I go?" she begged.

I glanced at Lex and nodded, he shifted out of the doorway and Kate immediately bolted from the room like a wild animal, shoving the scrap of paper into Alexi's hand. As soon as the treacherous girl had left I sagged onto my bed and Alexi joined me. "Are you ok?" he asked quietly, all strength and authority instantly gone.

I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak without crying again. I noticed the paper and gently pulled it out of his hand.

"What does it say?" Lex asked, leaning over to look at it. I moved so he could better see the crumpled up paper, on it was written in Kate's dodgy handwriting the address of some movie theatre in Italy, and two names, Riccio and Prosper. I looked up at Alexi's pale face, and saw him frown, he was thinking.

"What do you think?" I asked quietly.

"How long do you need to pack a bag?" was Alexi's reply.

I smiled, "Give me an hour." Alexi returned my smile, and with a nod, he left.

**A/N: As always, reviews are most welcome. I know this isn't a very long chapter but trust me, from now on it's going to be good. (As promised GirlInThePaintedMask, up within a week, I'm doing surprisingly good.) Until next time fellow disciples of the Thief Lord**

**Mags**


	5. Scipio: Until Venice

**A/N: Hmm, time for a bit of Scipio methinks. Again, I don't own any of this do I Eva?**

**Eva: Nope, she doesn't, just me, because I'm in her head. Bwahaha!**

**A/N: there you go, see. I only own this crazed child, because she won't leave me alone. **

Scipio

My head ached, and my entire body felt numb. The drugs my captors had given me weren't very strong, so I woke a little while later and saw we were still driving. I had no way of telling what time it was, or where we were. I panicked momentarily, but forced myself to calm down; there was no way these thugs were going to get the better of me.

The guy in the back with me noticed that I had woken up, "Jerry, he's awake. What do you want me to do with him?" he asked to someone in the front of the van.

A voice, I presumed it was Jerry's, replied, "What do I care, Alan? Just keep him quiet."

Alan looked at me and sighed, "Alright," he muttered. He sat silent for a moment, just watching me. I stared back with as much anger as I could, I had been gagged and my wrists had been bound since I fell asleep, so all I could do was glare. Alan sighed again and turned away from me. It was as though he felt sorry for me.

My body rocked forward as we turned a corner, and I struggled to move into a sitting position. To my surprise Alan helped me up. He gently pulled me up and whispered in my ear, "I can keep them off you until we get to Venice, from then on its out of my hands I'm afraid."

His words sent shivers down my spine, but I looked up into his sorrowful eyes and knew he meant it. I nodded my thanks and rested my head against the wall of the van. I thought about Eva and Lex, back at Saint Pat's, and I realised I was crying. I carried on crying until the van came to a stop and the doors were flung open, it was dark out, we'd been driving all afternoon. One of the men at the door pulled me onto my feet, and with help from Alan, I stumbled out into the night air. I shivered and wished I had worn my jacket today. I remembered that I'd given it to Eva that morning, and tears threatened to spill over again.

"Get in the plane," one of the men barked, it wasn't Jerry or Alan; I didn't know this guy. I blinked and looked around for the first time, noticing the small aircraft behind us. I figured it was easier to follow the instructions than be forced to do so, so I climbed awkwardly into the plane and sat on the seat I was directed to.

One of the men, I think it might have been Jerry, untied my hands and promptly cuffed me to the chair. _Well,_ I thought to myself, _now I feel like a proper hostage_. I smiled at the thought, and wondered briefly why I was being kidnapped. Then I realised I didn't really care, it was probably something to do with my jerk of a father.

It didn't take long for the plane to fill up, and someone wrapped a blindfold over my eyes. I tensed up as the rough material covered my eyes, and I was plunged into darkness. I felt my stomach heave as the plane lifted into the air, and I felt another cold wave of panic wash over me. Then I remembered something Alan had said to me, _until we get to Venice,_ I was going home. This thought settled me, even if I wasn't going back to the Stella, there was a chance. A chance I could get back to my family, my family in the Star Palace.

**A/N: So, do you like it? Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I promise the next one will be longer. Reviews would be nice. Thank you to all those who have reviewed, they're most appreciated. **


	6. Eva: Five Small Faces

**A/N: hello again chums, here is Chapter 6. Again, I don't own any of this, just the characters I made up. Etc. So, enjoy.**

Eva

52 minutes later I was sat in my room with a rucksack at my feet, I was shaking, with excitement, fear, who knows. I'd changed out of my school uniform and into a grey t-shirt with Animal from the Muppets on it, Scipio's black jacket which I had stolen from him that morning, jeans and my favourite black boots. There was a faint knock at my door and Alexi's voice on the outside, "Eva, are you ready?" he asked.

I realised I'd been crying and brushed away the offending tears, "Yeah, I'm ready," I unlocked the door and let Alexi in. He was carrying a similar black rucksack which was most likely filled with clothes and food enough to keep us going for a good few months. He had also changed out of the dreary school uniform of blazer and shirt, and changed into his beloved sweater and jeans.

He glanced down at the bag by my bed, "Got everything?" he asked.

I nodded, "Everything I could possibly need," I grabbed the bag and hoisted it onto my shoulder, "so, what are we going to do?" I asked, watching Lex carefully.

A faint smile grew on Alexi's lips, "Come on, we're going to Italy," he grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room and into the car park in front of the school. There were loads of people milling around in the car park, kids being picked up by panicked parents, teachers begging people not to leave, police. It was chaos. I vaguely felt Alexi pulling me towards a specific car, over in the corner of the car park, where no one would notice us slipping away.

Lex opened the back door for me and climbed in after me. He said something in Russian to the driver in the front, and the car set off onto the road. We sped to the nearest airport, where Alexi's father had readied a private plane for us. I knew Alexi's family were rich, or else how could they afford to send Lex to St Pat's? But I hadn't realised how rich they were, the plane was beautiful and very luxurious. And we were on our way to Italy in no time; I could see Europe passing below us and in no time at all we landed in Venice, and we began locating this "Stella" movie theatre.

I dragged poor Lex around the city for at least two hours speaking to people in my best Italian, silently thanking my mother for forcing me to learn the language from such a young age. "Scusi," I asked an elderly woman as she passed, "Do you know the Stella?"

She nodded and pointed down a little alleyway. "Laggiú," she said, down there. I smiled and thanked her profusely, before running down the alleyway. Alexi followed me, his feet slapping the ground behind me. I stopped outside a small side door with a sign above it, _The Stella._ I grinned, "We've found it," I said.

I knocked on the door, and after a few silent minutes I knocked again. "Maybe they've moved out," Alexi muttered, I gave him a quick glare before returning my attention to the door. I knocked again and pressed my ear against the wood.

"Who is it?" someone whispered inside.

"How should I know?"

"Everyone shut up! If we're quiet they might go away," another voice, a female voice, said. No one said anything about a girl.

I decided it was time to open my mouth and talk to the people behind the door, "Hello? I'm a friend of Scipio, I'm looking for..." I glanced again at the screwed up piece of paper in my hand, "Riccio or Prosper?"

I heard them muttering again, "She says she's Scip's friend," a young voice said, this seemed to sway the group of children cowering on the other side of the door. The unmistakable sound of locks being opened, I stepped away from the door and waited as five small faces peeked out from behind it.

"Hi," I waved meekly.

The kids eyed us up suspiciously, "You said you know Scipio, how?" the girl asked. She was nothing if not direct, I liked her.

"I'm his girlfriend," I said just as directly. The girl's eyes widened for a moment before she sniffed and glanced at one of the boys, the boy in question looked at me for a moment before nodding, he backed out of the doorway and the others followed suit, allowing Alexi and I to enter.

"You don't sound very Italian," the boy stated, his accent was almost perfect, almost.

"That could be because I'm not a native Italian," I replied as he led us into the main room of the theatre.

He glanced at me again and after a moment a small smile broke on his face, "You're English?" he asked; all trace of Italian vanished from his tongue as he spoke in my comforting home language.

I nodded, "it would seem so are you…" I gestured to him, asking his name.

"Prosper, my friends call me Prop. What about you?"

"Evangeline, but call me Eva. I feel like I'm always getting told off when people use my Sunday name," I smiled.

"That's because people usually are telling you off when they are using your full name, Eva," Alexi grinned as he interrupted my lovely conversation, "I'm Alexi, by the way," he said, offering a hand to Prop, who gladly took the offer and shook Alexi's hand.

"Nice to meet you Alexi," Prop said warmly, he frowned, "You said you're friends of Scipio, how come you're in Venice?" he asked quietly.

I looked at the five small faces before me and felt tears spring up again, "Scipio has been kidnapped."

The room erupted as this sunk into the group's minds, I dashed away tears and tried to answer all the questions being thrown at me.

**A/N: So reviews? Pretty please? Cyber hugs for reviewers, love you all folks.**

**Mags**


	7. Scipio: My Beloved

**A/N: 'Sup dudes? So another lovely chapter of Stolen, and on that note, I have not stolen this story, all rights etc. belong to the author, Cornelia Funke. Thank you all.**

Scipio

The plane ride to Italy wasn't too bad, I mean, it could have been a lot worse. There were no crying babies on this flight, which was nice. As the flight dragged on my grim humour worsened, I began listing all the things that could happen to me, then finding something to lighten it. As I got to them sending me back to my father in matchboxes, my jokes were beginning to fail me.

I was jolted from my thoughts as something cold and hard and shaped remarkably like the barrel of a gun was pressed to my head, the cuffs restraining me were unlocked and I was ordered to stand up and "Move!" I did everything they demanded, willing myself to stop shaking.

I was still blindfolded, so I had to be led by the wrists into the back of another van. I heard the door slam shut and my wrists were bound again. Someone whimpered pathetically, then I realised it was me who had whimpered. I silently berated myself for giving these dogs the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

We were taken to a warehouse in the back alleys of Venice. I was thrown in a small room with a bed and an adjoining toilet. The cuffs were taken off and I was allowed to take the rough blindfold off, at last! I sat down on the bed and wept, and I carried on crying until the sun had disappeared and shafts of moonlight beamed in through the barred window. There was no way I could escape, the window was too high even for me, the door was locked from the outside and there wasn't even a door knob on this side.

Just as I was allowing myself to succumb to sleep, the door was thrown open and two men entered. "Get up!" one of them barked, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me from the room. I was pushed and jostled into a larger room with two chairs in it. Nothing else, just two chairs.

I was left in there for a while on my own, but after what seemed like an age the door opened again and a seedy looking old man sauntered in. He looked me up and down before sitting in one of the chairs, he gestured for me to take the other chair. I cautiously followed the order and sat.

"Do you know why you are here, Master Massimo?" the old man asked. I shook my head. The old man smiled, "I'll tell you," he said.

"When I was a much younger man, your father and I were good friends. I trusted your dear father with my life, literally. But that trust was gravely betrayed," he leant in closer to me, "Your father took something very precious from me, and made a business from it. But now I need that precious thing back. I asked very nicely for it, but you know how stubborn he is, Scipio," the use of my name made me flinch; "he won't give it back. So I took something precious from him, you."

The man stood up and walked around me, patting me on the shoulder. He chuckled as I flinched away from his touch, "You don't need to worry about what I'll do to you, Scipio," the way he drawled on my name made me shudder, "Not yet anyway." And with that the man left.

I found my breathing had quickened by a considerable amount since the creep entered. There was something about him, something utterly disgusting, that made me feel sick to the stomach. The two men who had dragged me here entered the room again, "Your Daddy dearest has refused to accept our requests, time to have some fun," one of them grinned, I felt my body turn to ice. I stumbled off the chair and ran to the far corner of the room, the two monsters in front of me began to edge closer, a wicked glint in their eyes.

I made to dart towards the door, but suddenly the one who had spoken became a blur and grabbed me by the hair, he threw me to the ground and kicked me hard in the stomach. I felt my breath whoosh out of me as his foot collided with my ribs. The other man had joined in too now, and I gasped as his fist connected with my cheek bone. The kicks rapidly became more and more violent, the punches more and more painful. A particularly hard kick to my face caused stars to dance across my vision and blood to trickle down into my eyes. Someone grabbed me by the throat and shoved me against the wall, slamming me into it as hard as they could, the punches carried on coming, and in the end I gave up trying to defend myself, I always was terrible at boxing. I stopped struggling against the hand clamped around my throat, and hung there, limp and pathetic in the monster's grip. I would have quite happily, well not happily but you know what I mean, hung there until they had had enough sadistic fun and got bored, that is I would have, but a sudden sickening crack and a jolt of pain in my left arm stopped me. I screamed in pain, writhing in the man's grasp and gasping for air.

The noise brought others rushing into the room and I was taken back into my small room. I vaguely heard someone talking about lovely pictures, and the snap of a camera. "…There, send that to the Dottore, see if that will persuade him that I'm not playing around," the old man's voice seeped into my half consciousness.

I was only barely aware that someone was trying to fix my broken body, my wounds were cleaned up and my arm gently put in a sling. I was tucked into the bed and given what I assumed was a wonderfully strong pain killer. It certainly did the job well enough for me. I was out of it in seconds, but it was anything but a peaceful sleep. Images of dying teachers and Eva, my beloved Eva, crying plagued my mind.

**A/N: Reviews please? Thank you all. Especially thank you to those who have reviewed. You make my day just that bit brighter. :)**

**Mags**


	8. Eva: Sleepover time

**A/N: …writer's block over, onward! Ps. I own only characters not mentioned in the book, and the plot. **

Eva

I laid in the cool darkness of the night, unable to sleep. I listened to the soft noises of breathing around me, the occasional snuffle of little Bo as he dreamt. I sat up, shedding the thin blanket which covered me. I gently made my way downstairs and sat in the film booth, where I thought I could cry in peace, without waking the others.

It turned out someone else had shared my idea, as a few minutes after I sat down on the discarded film reels I heard the unmistakable footsteps of a child moving around in the dark. It was Hornet. She slipped in to the room and sat down across from me, "Hi," she said, "Couldn't sleep either?"

I shook my head, "I just keep thinking of Scip."

Hornet nodded, "I haven't seen him in ages; he left so long ago," she sighed, "I missed him so much when he disappeared."

"What happened? I know he came to St Pat's early last year, but I don't really know much else about him," I asked quietly.

Hornet gave a rueful smile, "And you've been going out how long?" she laughed, but the smile quickly vanished, "Scipio, didn't tell you about us then? It's a long story."

"I've got all night," I shrugged, and settled down between the reels. Hornet threw me a spare blanket and shifted to a more comfortable position.

Hornet got straight into the tale of Scipio's past, explaining to me how he had taken them all under his wing before they found out he'd lied to them about his father. This shocked me somewhat; I didn't want to think of my Scipio lying to people. He just wouldn't, would he? Hornet finished her story, "but one night, he left. He left no note, no good bye, nothing." She looked up at me, tears visible in her eyes, and her mouth twitched in a small smile, "What about when he left us, what happened when he left?"

I grinned at the memories I had of Scipio, "Well, he came to St Patrick's. It's an old school in England, a posh school." Hornet grinned at the image, "And we became friends almost straight away. Scip, Alexi and I are all in Art together, and I have loads of lessons with Scip. We just became great friends instantly, and then a friend set us up on a date. And it was great. So we started going out." I shrugged, our story together sounded quite dull now that I knew the rest of Scip's past.

Hornet was smiling like a Cheshire cat, "That's so sweet!" she gasped, "I wish I could have something like that."

"Who with?" I asked conspiringly, shifting closer and leaning on my elbows, "Come on… tell," I felt like we were having a quaint little sleepover, well, it would, if we weren't sitting in a film booth in an abandoned movie theatre.

Hornet glanced up shyly, "Can you keep it a secret," she asked, I nodded, "Well, maybe… Prosper?" she smiled.

I squealed and clapped almost silently, "You two are so cute!" Hornet began shushing me, and giggling uncontrollably.

We sat up talking for most of the night, and by morning, we were shattered! We made our way down into the auditorium and talked until the boys woke up, Bo was the first awake, "Morning!" he called as he slid down the bannister, probably waking the others up as he went.

"Hey Bo," Hornet smiled as she grabbed him by the waist and threw him into one of the chairs. He squealed and laughed, kicking his legs and making an awful racket. I heard a groan from upstairs as Prosper woke up, "Morning Prop!" Hornet called up.

"Hey," Prop's voice floated down, groggy and rough from sleep.

"Morning," I laughed, I saw him pull a t-shirt over his head and tug it down. I glanced over at Hornet, who also glanced at me and blushed. I grinned over at her and winked.

She nudged me in the arm and tried to hide her smile, I gave a small chuckle before returning to setting the table. A while later everyone was at the table, eating breakfast. Alexi was sat next to me, and suddenly jumped as his phone vibrated on the table. He scooped it up and his hands flew across the keypad, unlocking it, reading the text and replying in mere seconds before returning his attention to the table. "Tom says hi," he informed me, nonchalantly.

"That's nice, any news?" I asked, instantly eager to hear anything that could help me find Scipio.

"Not much, there was a picture sent out, but Tom can't send it on his phone." Alexi shrugged, and quickly went back to the phone, hands a blur again as he searched the news on it. The atmosphere suddenly changed, and we waited silently for Lex to find the picture. Suddenly he stopped typing and gasped audibly.

"What is it?" I asked hurriedly, I snatched the phone from Alexi's hand and looked at the photo. What I saw horrified me; it was Scipio, beaten and covered in blood. I gasped and threw the phone back at Lex; I ran to the small toilets and threw up. I kept vomiting until there was nothing more to come up. I heard the door click behind me, signalling another presence in the room. I glanced behind me and saw Hornet sat on the sink watching me, sympathy and pity obvious in her eyes. I slowly stumbled over to the sink and washed out my mouth.

"Here," Hornet said calmly, handing me a clean shirt. I took it gratefully and stripped out of my vomit covered top. I realised that the shirt she had given me was actually Scip's, and suddenly I was sobbing again. Hornet pulled me into a hug, murmuring, "We'll find him, Eva. We'll find him."

**A/N: Review please? Thank you muchly.**


	9. Scipio: Strange Angels

**A/N: Hey, I hope you like this… It's taken me a while to do. And for an extra prize, see if you can find the Phantom of the Opera quote hidden in Scipio's torment. **

Scipio

The first thing I noticed when I woke was that I was laid in an unfamiliar bed, and that my entire body was screaming in pain. I lay very still for a moment, and suddenly all the memories of what had happened came rushing back to me, and I let out a quiet sob.

The next thing I heard was shuffling; there was someone else in my prison room with me. I pulled my head up very gently, to see a small girl sat on the only chair in the room, across at a table in the far corner.

"Buongiorno," she said, _Good morning._ I was grateful to hear my home tongue, even if I didn't know the girl.

"Buongiorno," I replied. The words sounded strange in my own mouth, so I swiftly changed into English, "Who are you?"

"Della figlia del professore." _The daughter of the Professor._ Was that the old man I had spoken to, when was it? Last night? Now that I looked closely at her, she did look a lot like him. But much prettier and with dark brown curls, she couldn't be much older than Bo. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Scipio, what's yours?" I smiled weakly.

"Aletta, Padre says it means on wings, like an angel." I was surprised at the fluency of her almost perfect English; it had taken me ages to learn it so well. "I have to tell mama you are awake, ciao Scipio," she waved and bounced off the chair, she knocked on the door and a man walked in, he looked at me before ushering the small girl out with him. I heard the click of the lock and then silence.

I few minutes later I heard the door opening, I glanced at the door and watched as a woman walked in, shutting the door gently behind her. I smiled when I saw little Aletta was by her side. This must be her mother.

"Buongiorno, Scipio. I'm Donatella, Aletta's mama. How are you feeling?" the woman asked gently, she had such a warm soft voice.

I was about to say fine, but a sharp pain in my left side made me gasp, Donatella ran forward and helped me find a more comfortable position. She began gently working her way over my body, finding the injury and assessing the damage. "Broken rib," she muttered worriedly. I watched silently as her hands blurred across my broken body, gently binding this and cleaning that.

After a while she knelt down next to me, "Scipio, tell me honestly. How badly are you hurting?" she asked.

I looked into her dark blue eyes, so filled with compassion and care, and swallowed hard, "Quite badly…" I whispered hoarsely.

Donatella sighed and placed a cool hand on my cheek, "I'm sorry Scipio, I'm sorry for what they have done to you. I will help with the pain as much as I can," she promised, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Thank you," I murmured, giving her a small smile, "thank you." A sudden thought came into my mind, "How long have I been out?" I asked shakily

"Almost two weeks." Donatella whispered, pushing hair from my brow and gently forcing me back against the bed.

There was a click as the door opened, and the professor walked in, "Donatella, Aletta, what are you doing in here?" he asked sharply.

Donatella turned to her husband, pushing Aletta behind her, "I was seeing that you hadn't killed your hostage… again," she snapped back. Her voice wavered slightly, showing the fear she had of the man.

The professor sniffed, "Well, go now. I want to speak with the boy alone."

Donatella took Aletta's arm and pushed her out of the room, away from the professor, leaving me and the miserable old man alone. The door clicked, we were locked in here together. "So Scipio, still no word from your father."

"Were you expecting one?" I asked, my voice a lot more calm than I felt.

"I'll be honest boy, no. I did have some vague hope that he might have changed since he left my employment, but..."

"It would seem not," I finished for him.

The old man looked at me, his eyes betraying some new emotion I hadn't seen in them before, pity. He knew my father was a cold, unfeeling man, and I think he felt… sorry for me. Suddenly the man walked to the door and knocked heavily on it. The man outside unlocked it and nodded, the pair spoke in hushed voices. I could barely hear their hurried conversation, and soon I gave up. I was too busy trying to think of any way I could get out of this place. I noticed a small face watching me beyond the men, the face of one of my two strange angels in hell.

**A/N: Reviews? I'll give you imaginary cookies which I stole from CbD. Apologies for the sincere lack of writing in this chapter, I'm trying desperately to get back to the huge chapter I plan on writing for Eva next. :) Thank you to all who have reviewed so far, you brighten my day considerably. **


	10. Eva: Of Meetings and Plans

**A/N: Hello there peoples. This chapter is extremely long for me, mainly because I wanted to get so much in to it. As promised _FreezingSapphire_ there is a lot of lovely fluff for you. :) As always I don't own Thief Lord in any way, shape or form. Enjoy.**

Eva

Almost two weeks past with no more news of Scipio. I spent most of my time watching the others in the Stella, and assisting Hornet with the some house-work… or theatre work, whichever. I wandered down one morning to find her making breakfast, a lovely display of pastries and fruit. "Morning," I said as I perched on the table next to her.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" She smiled as she plated up some more squashed pastries.

"Fine, what happened to these?" I asked, picking up one of the croissants.

"They mysteriously fell off a market stall this morning." Prop grinned slyly as he snatched it from my hand and bit into it. "Mmm… still warm from the bakery, too. It seemed a shame to let them go to waste," he shrugged.

Hornet smiled at him, and I felt a flutter of happiness for this oblivious couple, "Are you hungry Eva, I'd take something now if I were you," she batted Prop's hand away from a second croissant, "they might be gone very soon."

Prop grinned and held his hands up in mock innocence. I grabbed an apple and one of the pastries, and settled into one of the theatre chairs. Prop put his fingers to his lips and blew, giving out a harsh whistle that was meant to wake the other sleeping children upstairs. There was a chorus of groans as they woke up, which just made us laugh.

Bo was the first to get downstairs, "Hi guys," he bounced up to us, "what's for breakfast? I'm _starving_!"

Hornet laughed, "You can't be starving Bo," she ruffled his blonde hair, "here have a croissant."

Bo tucked straight in to his breakfast, he wandered over to me and sat down, "What's up?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

I smiled sadly at the little face looking up at me, "Nothing, Bo. I'm fine."

Bo wasn't convinced, "Is it Scip? He'll be okay. I know he will," and with those brief words of youthful encouragement, he was off to harass someone else.

I took a deep breath, calming myself, and turned to watch Hornet and Prop at the table. They were talking quietly to one another, Hornet moving cleaning up and Prop following closely behind her. He put an arm over her shoulder to reach something, and I almost squealed with childish joy. They were utterly adorable! I managed to compose myself though, and clamped a hand over my normally overenthusiastic mouth.

Hornet caught my eye with a smile, which she was hastily trying to hide… and failing in the process. I winked conspiringly at her, making her giggle. Prop frowned, "What?" he asked looking between us.

"Nothing!" we chimed together, and then giggled again. Soon we were beyond all hope as we laughed until we could no longer breathe properly.

Prop watched this hysteria utterly confused, "Girls are weird," he concluded.

"You can say that again, my friend." Alexi said as he leaned over the balcony above us, he gave me a quizzical look, "Girls are most definitely the weirdest thing I've ever come across."

I tossed my apple in the air and lobbed it at him with as much force as I could muster. It whizzed through the air and in an almost straight line towards Lex, but much to my annoyance he was a lot quicker than I gave him credit for and he caught the apple neatly in his hand. He grinned at me, and raised an amused eyebrow.

"Nice catch." I smiled coolly; I took a bite of my croissant and watched as my friend took a bite of my apple. "Enjoy your breakfast." I laughed before an awful thought put me off my own completely. I was flirting with my boyfriend's best friend while he was stuck being beaten to death somewhere. I suddenly threw the food away from me and ran back to the confines of the bathroom, closely followed by Hornet and Prosper.

I slammed the door of the cubicle shut and locked it, before sliding to the floor sobbing; outside I heard Hornet's voice, "Eva? Eva, are you alright?" she sounded so worried.

"Yeah," I whispered, "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine." Prosper noted.

I gave a harsh bark of laughter, "Yeah, okay… maybe I'm not."

"Eva, come out." Hornet almost pleaded, "Come on, you can't stay in there all day."

_Try me,_ I thought rather bitterly, but instead I sighed and unlocked the door. I stayed sat on the cold tiled floor and looked up as Hornet pushed the door open.

She held out a hand, "Come on, let's get out of the bathroom shall we?" She gave me a rueful smile and helped me up. We walked back into the main auditorium and I looked up to see Alexi watching me with panic in his eyes.

"What is it?" I asked tentatively.

Lex slipped his phone discreetly in to his pocket, but not discreetly enough, "Nothing," he choked out.

"Lex, what were you just looking at?" I asked calmly, maybe too calmly.

He shook his head, "Nothing, it's nothing!" he said.

I stalked up to him and snatched his phone from him, I scrolled through the texts and images he'd found and suddenly came across a news story.

_News through that the father of kidnapped school boy Scipio Massimo has refused to negotiate with his son's kidnappers. The Dottore made no comment on the situation when asked about it earlier today…_

I stopped reading at that point. I couldn't bear it any longer. I threw the phone back at Alexi and stormed out, again followed by my shadows, Prop and Hornet. I spun around on them, "What? What are you expecting me to do?" They both looked down at their feet and I suddenly felt overwhelmed with guilt, "I'm sorry, I just… I don't know."

Hornet put a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Its okay Eva, You're allowed to be upset." She pulled me into a hug, "You're only human after all."

"Thanks," I said, reciprocating the hug, I pulled away and squeezed her arm, "but I really don't need babysitting."

Prop smiled, "We'll let you go then, unless you fancy the company?" They just couldn't let me be alone could they?

I sighed, "Whatever." I turned and unlocked the door, "Back soon guys." I called back.

A chorus of voices replied as Prop, Hornet and I walked out into the soft sunlight. We wandered along the canal; I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and watched as Prop put an arm around Hornet's shoulders, at least someone was happy in this living hell of mine.

We walked for a while before Prop stopped suddenly and turned his head slightly, "What is it?" Hornet asked in a low voice.

Prosper held up a hand, "Just stay here a minute," he murmured as he walked away from us. He wandered past a woman sat on a bench nearby, and the woman stood up and followed him.

"What's going on?" I asked Hornet.

She shrugged, "Don't know, but I'm going to find out." She grabbed my wrist and ran across the street, following Prop and the woman. We stopped at a corner in an alley, and Hornet raised a finger to her lips. We listened silently to the hushed conversation.

"…you want?" Prop was saying.

"Don't worry, this isn't another job proposition," the woman said.

"Well what is it then?" Prop sounded angry, really angry.

"News of your missing friend."

There was a long pause, and Hornet and I shared a worried glance, before Prop said, "Scipio."

"Yes. The professor has him."

Hornet gasped next to me, I guessed she must know who they were talking about. I raised an eyebrow, but Hornet shook her head, not a good topic then.

I realised Prop was talking again, "Have you seen him?" he asked, his voice quiet and shaking slightly.

"Yes, I've seen him. He's not too bad considering…" the woman trailed off, "Who's there?" she asked suddenly.

I jumped and looked at Hornet; her eyes grew wide for a second before she put a smile on her face and stepped out into the middle of the alley. "Hey Donatella, how's things," she waved calmly.

"Hornet!" Prop sighed, "What are you doing, I told you to wait with Eva."

"I did," Hornet retorted, "I just waited around the corner."

Prop must have realised what was implied in that statement, "Eva heard that too?"

I stepped out to join them, "Yeah I did." I nodded at the woman, "You said you know where Scipio is, tell me."

The woman, Donatella nodded, "He's being kept at the old base," she told Prop. He seemed to know what she meant, "I can get him out of there, but you'll have to do the rest."

Prop nodded, "How bad is he?" he asked darkly.

Donatella looked genuinely sad, "He's got two broken ribs, possibly a fractured cheek, he had concussion for a while but that seems to have cleared up. And definitely a broken arm."

I gasped involuntarily, and felt Hornet's hand fly up to my arm. Prop glanced at me before saying, "When can you get him out?"

Donatella frowned for a minute, "Tomorrow night, the church in the plaza. Meet us at twelve minutes to midnight."

I thought this was a peculiar time but Prop agreed, he pushed up his sleeve and for a moment I was confused until Hornet whispered in my ear, "They're synching their watches, no use having different times when they need to be exact."

Prop finished synching his watch and walked away from Donatella, he grabbed Hornet and stood her next to Donatella, "Swap coats," he ordered, "we might have been followed by someone else."

Hornet stripped off her hoodie and passed it to Donatella, who also shrugged out of her own rather more luxurious coat and handed it to Hornet, they both pulled on their respective coats and pulled up the hoods. "So I take it I'm walking off by myself for a while then?" Hornet asked suddenly very sullen.

"It's only until you decide you're bored." Prosper smiled, he walked over to her and whispered something in her ear, whatever he said it must have worked.

Hornet was walking out of the alley with no more than a glance in my direction. "Ciao, children." she said coolly, her voice every part the sophisticated woman.

Prop turned to me and Donatella with a grin, "Right," he said stretching his arms, "We'll go this way I think." He pointed behind himself, further in to the alleyway. He set off whistling and with a look of exasperation, Donatella followed.

She linked her arm through mine and smiled, "Put your hood up, and keep talking the pair of you." she said quietly.

I pulled my hood up and realised, in a way, Donatella and I looked very similar. Similar hair colour, similar skin tone… I wondered why Prop hadn't asked me to swap with Donatella; I would have been easier to pass off as her.

We walked for a long time before Donatella stopped and glanced at a café next to us. "Mmm. Anyone fancy a coffee?" she asked suddenly.

I followed her line of sight and saw Hornet sat casually in the far corner of the café, right next to the toilets and the fire escape. "Yeah, I do." I piped up quickly.

Prop followed the hint and we all piled in to the café, and since I was the least known here, I was sent to order while Hornet and Donatella did their swap again. I knew she wouldn't stay, but I bought the coffee she had asked for anyway, so that it didn't look like a planned escape.

I set the drinks on the table and sat down heavily next to Hornet, who was now back in her own hoodie, "Has our friend left us?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so, sad to see a good coffee go to waste." Hornet smiled, she grabbed her own drink off the table and downed it almost in one.

Prop gave her an exasperated look, "I still don't know how you can drink coffee so fast. It's boiling!" he sighed.

We didn't stay long. We had to get back to the Stella, the others would be worried. So after Prop had managed to drink half of his tea, we set off home. And I watched gleefully as Prop's arm hooked itself around Hornet's waist. She glanced at me with the biggest smile I've ever seen plastered across her face.

I couldn't help but smile back, Hornet had her Prosper, and I was going to get my Scipio back. I had never felt as relieved and excited and nervous as this in my entire life.

**Review? It will make****me very very very happy if you do. And again a big thank you to those who have been reviewing and favouriting so far. You have made this worth the effort.**


	11. Scipio: It's Time

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I meant to update this ages ago. I guess college managed to brainwash me over January exams. Oh well, all done now. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Thief Lord. I just wish I did. **

Scipio

Aletta sat at the little table across from me, drawing me. It was quite good for such a young child, she was currently colouring in my eyes, and colouring them purple… well, maybe she wasn't very observant. I allowed myself a small smile as I watched her dark hair fall over her eyes the same way Eva's did when she was concentrating. I twirled a pencil in my hand and began sketching; my hand had a tendency to do that. After a while Aletta looked up at me, "What are you drawing?" she asked.

I looked down at what I had drawn, it was Eva. Those beautiful eyes gazed up at me, a smile playing on her luscious lips. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, and I felt tears trickle down my cheeks. "Scipio? Who's that?" Aletta asked, oblivious to my pain.

"Eva…" I whispered through my tears.

"She's really pretty." Aletta smiled, she beamed up at me, but the smile faltered at the sight of my face, "…Scipio, what's wrong?"

I dashed away the tears, "Nothing, nothing's wrong." I forced a smile on to my face and sighed, "Would you like me to draw a picture of you?"

Aletta grinned again, and nodded. I took a new sheet of paper and began to sketch the little angel, my glimmer of light in this darkness. I kept glancing up at her, checking my drawing was accurate, something I didn't even need to do any more with Eva, I knew every strand of hair and each curve of her perfect face. I knew how best to draw her eyes to make her face light up when she was happy, to darken when she was thinking. I knew no face better than hers.

Once I had finished shading the thick black hair of Aletta's picture I spun it around to show her, she squealed, "Scipio, it's beautiful! I love it!" She bounded off her chair and threw her arms around my neck, planting a kiss on my neck, "grazie! Oh grazie Scipio!" she scooped up the picture and folded it neatly before placing it in her pocket. "I'll show mama." she decided. She skipped over to me and hugged me again.

I felt I should hug her back, instead of sitting there awkwardly like usual, I wrapped my arms around her slender waist and hugged her, "I'm glad you like it Aletta." I murmured.

"Mama told me to pass on a message," Aletta whispered in my ear as she hugged me tighter, "Be ready, it's almost time." She pulled back and smiled at me as though nothing had happened, and skipped over to the door and knocked. The door opened and she bounded out of the room. I glimpsed the slender figure of her mother as she stood across the hall from me. She was watching me intently; she gave me a small nod of acknowledgement before turning her attention to the picture in Aletta's small hand. She smiled and glanced back at me again. I saw something in those eyes I hadn't seen in years – the love of a mother. I felt my chest burn as a sob escaped my lips.

The door slammed shut and I was left alone to wallow in my self pity and boredom again. I turned back to the small table in the middle of the room; I stormed across to it and gripped it tightly before throwing it at the wall, letting out a roar of anger. I'd had enough of this godforsaken place. I wanted out! I slammed my fist into the wall again and again, until finally the numbness I had been feeling subsided and pain seeped into my consciousness. I gasped and drew my bloodied hand to my chest. My knuckles were throbbing and glistening with my own blood. I sank to my knees and cried, I must have stayed in that position for most of the day, I think I fell asleep at some point because when I woke much later there was a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Scipio…" I knew that voice.

"Scipio, please darling, wake up." Donatella whispered to me, she shook me slightly until my eyes fluttered open.

"Donatella? What time is it?" I asked groggily.

Donatella smiled, "It's time, that's all you need to know. Come on, you're leaving."

I was suddenly wide awake, leaving? Leaving this dreadful place? It couldn't be true, but apparently it was as Donatella took me by the hand and led me silently from the room. I noticed both of the men stood outside my room were asleep, a mug of what looked like coffee beside both of them. "Did you drug them or something?" I asked, it was meant to be a joke, but the look on Donatella's face told a different story.

She held a finger to her lips and raised an eyebrow, ok so maybe this wasn't the time to be joking. I followed her as silently as I could, wincing slightly as my hand brushed against my leg. Donatella noticed my pain and turned to look at my hand, she frowned but said nothing. She led me expertly through the complex I was being kept in and suddenly stopped next to a door, "Wait here." she said, her voice barely audible in the darkness. She slipped into the room and re-emerged with Aletta by her side.

Aletta gave me a smile and fell into step beside her mother; we walked with relative ease through the building until at last Donatella opened the final door and I saw outside for the first time in what seemed like forever. I took a deep breath of the sweet, cool outdoors air. It really was the most wonderful thing in the world. But my little bubble of happiness was suddenly shattered by a loud wailing sound, a siren had gone off and the complex was buzzing with activity.

Donatella muttered something under her breath and turned to me. "Scipio, take Aletta and get out of here. Go to the Stella. You'll be safe there." She turned her attention to her daughter, "Aletta, my love, do everything Scipio says and I'll find you. I promise."

Aletta had tears in her eyes but nodded and slipped her small hand into my own. "Si mama, ti amo." _I love you_. And with those final words, we turned and ran; I was mostly relying on Aletta to get us out of here, but she seemed to know the way pretty well. We managed to get as far as the gates before people noticed us and began shooting and yelling at us. I lifted Aletta up over the fence and watched her scramble down the other side, now it was my turn.

I clambered up and managed to get my leg over before I heard a very disturbing buzzing sound beneath me, it was electric! I leapt from the fence and rolled on impact with the compacted earth like I'd been taught. My hand was killing me and now my foot was tingling. Ow! Well that was certainly an incentive not to play with wires anymore in physics… if I even got out of this.

Aletta offered me her hand and helped me up, "Thanks," I smiled, "Let's go." I span on my heel and scooped Aletta up onto my back, "We'll be faster this way." I explained as Aletta gave a whoop of… excitement? Quite possibly.

I ran off into the darkness and sped instantly down a nearby alleyway. I could map out Venice in my mind and instantly find my way home… to the Stella. I didn't stop running for about half an hour, scampering along rooftops and dropping into alleys to evade my pursuers. They were good though, better than I had expected. I thought at one point I had finally lost them, only to see them at the other end of the alleyway, I'd had to push Aletta up onto a nearby ledge and clamber up myself, but one of them managed to grab my ankle and yank me back down to the ground with a painful thud. I heard Aletta scream my name, but ignored her, I had bigger problems to deal with right now.

"You can't escape." one of the men chuckled, his voice deep and heavily accented.

I smiled, "You sure about that?" I curled up my fists and crouched down in a standard fighting pose, it wouldn't have been too hard to take them, if the others hadn't come from behind me and surrounded us. Someone leapt at me and I had to roll quickly to get out of his way, unfortunately I came up just in front of another attacker and he kicked me hard in the face, I groaned and twisted away from him before he could grab me. I dragged myself to my feet and whacked the nearest person in the groin; that was one out of the equation at least. I spun around and lashed out wildly at the next guy to close in on me, I caught him square in the face and he stumbled backwards, creating a weird sort of domino effect as he took the guy behind him out as well, which left only four more. I realised I had turned my back on one of them, but I was a little late, something collided with my already throbbing arm and I cried out. I spun and smashed my fist into his stomach, ow, my bloody fist. It killed! I was preparing to take the next one out when a voice from above me made us all look up in confusion.

"Excuse me boys," the voice was dark and cool, and very female, "care to get off my property?" The men around me all looked at each other before fleeing for their lives; it would seem this young woman held quite a bit of power now that the position of Thief Lord was open. I felt my shoulders sag and I sighed, I glanced at Aletta and gave her a small smile. I turned my attention back to the girl who had probably saved our lives.

"Thanks," I nodded in gratitude.

"You're welcome Scipio." … Had she just used my name? I thought about it for a nanosecond. Yes, she had!

"Who are you?" I asked, getting straight to the bottom of the matter.

The girl stepped forward, and I stepped back, "Hornet?" I asked, my head a storm of thoughts.

"Hi, Scipio. Bring Aletta, we've got to go quickly." And with that, Hornet spun on her heel and disappeared into the shadows.

I ran back to where Aletta sat huddled against the wall on her ledge, "Come on Letty, time to go." I whispered as I gently lifted her into my arms, she clung to me tightly and sobbed into my shirt. My arm was killing me and I tried to move her a little, but stopped when she gripped tighter.

"Why did you call me Letty?" she asked after a while of walking silently through the darkness with Hornet by my side.

I frowned, "I don't know really. It's a shorter way of saying your name; I can stop if you want."

Aletta shook her head, "No I like it. What's your name shortened?" she asked drowsily.

"Scip, I get Scip." I smiled.

Aletta made a small noise of agreement and snuggled her head into the space between my shoulder and my chin. I smiled again and glanced at Hornet as she walked stoically beside me, "Cute kid." She said calmly.

"Yeah." I replied quietly.

"Come on, they'll be waiting for us."

"Who will?" I asked, frowning, surely she didn't mean the goons who had run off?

Hornet allowed me a small smile, how long had it been since I had seen that smile? Too long. "You'll see."

So we walked a little further until Hornet placed a hand on my uninjured arm, "Wait here. I need to check something." I obeyed without question, and wondered when Hornet had grown into this bright young woman who demanded respect and obedience from everyone around her. She came back within seconds, "Follow me." she gestured with her head; we walked out into the plaza and crossed it swiftly.

I recognised this place as being close to the Stella. I followed Hornet as silently as I could with a sleeping child hanging around my neck, until we had finally crossed the plaza and were stood just outside my Star Palace. I smile spread across my face, my glorious Stella. I glanced at Hornet; she smiled slightly and knocked four times on the old wooden door.

A series of clicks and the scraping of bolts later the door swung open and I found myself looking into some very familiar eyes, more familiar to me than my own.

"Scipio?" she breathed.

**A/N: I had fun writing this chapter, I hope you had as much fun reading it. Please Review, it doesn't take much to do, but it means a lot to me. Thank you. :) **


	12. Eva: At Last

**A/N: Hello peoples, here is the next chapter. Can't believe how many reviews I've got from this. Thank you everyone who has stuck with me this far. :)**

Eva

I heard the four knocks against the side door and snapped my head up; I had been sat waiting anxiously in the Stella for ages now, ever since Hornet left to meet them. I had been sat with Bo leaning against me, flicking through a book I wasn't really reading. I tapped him on the shoulder and he instantly looked up, he looked a little dazed, had he fallen asleep? Probably, poor little thing. He shifted so that I could stand up and I stood up, skirted around him and walked over to his brother.

"Do you want me to answer it?" Prop asked quietly as we walked towards the door together.

I shook my head, "I'll do it." I decided, I gave him a quick smile and began unlocking the door, it took forever! Why did they need so many bolts and locks? Surely a key would have been easier.

Finally every catch and bolt was unlocked and I swung the door open, it took me a second to fully comprehend the sight before me, his face was pale and his dark hair was plastered to his skin, his right arm was shaking and bloodied, but what I noticed most were his eyes, those gorgeous dark brown eyes which were still ablaze with the same intense flame they had been when I first met him. "Scipio." I said, my voice barely a whisper. Here he was, safe at last.

He smiled at me, the lopsided grin lighting up his beautiful face. "Eva!" he said somewhere between a sob and a laugh. He glanced at the small girl in his arms and handed her to Hornet, the girl hardly stirred. Once his arms were free of their burden he turned back to me, "Evangeline, my love" he said, it felt so wonderful to hear my name coming from his lips, even if it was my Sunday name.

I let out a sob and ran forwards, wrapping my arms around him. His arms looped around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I said nothing, simply taking in every detail of him. We were interrupted by a polite cough behind me; I pulled away from Scipio and turned around to see Prop watching us, a small smile on his lips. "Welcome back, Scipio. But do you mind if we continue this inside, you never know whose watching." he said, holding out a hand as if escorting a couple to their table in some fancy restaurant. I quickly obliged and walked through the small hallway, never letting go of Scip's arm.

I vaguely heard the door being locked behind us and realised Prop must have stayed to do it. We came into the centre room of the theatre and I looked up to see a cluster of children waiting nervously in front of us. For ages no-one spoke, Scipio simply looked from face to face, watching everyone carefully.

It was Bo who finally broke the silence, "Scipio?" he stepped forward gingerly.

Scipio's attention shifted to the angelic little blonde, he smiled and gently let go of my hand. I didn't want him to, but I obliged, he knelt down on one knee and opened his arms, "Come here, Bo."

Bo grinned and leapt at him, knocking him backwards and landing on top of him in a really awkward hug. "You're back! Scipio, I knew you'd be back." Bo laughed as he sat on Scip's chest, pinning him rather effectively to the floor.

Prop walked up next to Hornet, "Bo," he warned, he nodded his head and raised an eyebrow. Bo instantly scrambled up and away from Scipio, Prosper walked forward and extended a hand to Scipio, who took it gratefully and pulled himself up.

"Thanks," Scipio said, he rubbed his shoulder awkwardly and shifted from foot to foot.

Prop nodded, but said nothing, staring at Scipio silently. They stood like this, watching each other for another age. Eventually Scipio said in the smallest voice I've ever heard, "I'm sorry."

Finally Prop spoke, "I know," he placed a hand on Scip's uninjured arm and smiled, "I know." Scip looked down at the hand, and then back at Prop with tears in his eyes. "And I forgive you." Prosper said, pulling him into a full on hug. They broke apart and chaos erupted in the dilapidated movie theatre, everyone spoke at once, shouting to be heard above everyone else.

"Scipio, why did you leave?"

"We missed you!"

"I'm glad you're back!"

"Where did you go man?"

"Guys, guys!" Scipio laughed above the noise, the room fell silent, "One at a time, okay?" He sighed, a tear sliding down his cheek, he brushed it away quickly, "Ah what the hell, come here!" He opened his arms to us all, which ended in an amazing pile up of laughing, crying and squealing children. It came to an abrupt end when Scipio cried out in pain. We all scurried back and watched as he pushed himself into a sitting position and held his damaged arm close to his chest.

"What happened to your arm?" Mosca asked, worry evident in his voice.

"He broke it," a small voice said from the chairs next to me. I spun around to see the young girl Scipio had been holding when he arrived rubbing her eyes and kneeling on the chair. "When he was fighting off Papa's men."

"What Aletta said," Scipio tried to make a joke out of it, but no-one seemed in the mood to joke right now. Hornet stepped over to him and knelt down beside him, inspecting the damage.

She nodded, "It's broken. You'll have to go to hospital, I can't fix it myself."

Scip sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll go."

"Really?" Prop asked, bemused by how easily Scip had been persuaded.

Scip nodded, "As long as they give me some pain killer, I'll do whatever you tell me." He pushed himself to his feet and shrugged, "Shall we?" he held out his uninjured arm to me, I took it without hesitation. He turned his head, "You too Alexi, I know you're there."

Alexi heaved himself out of the corner he had been silently occupying; he never did like mushy reunions. He patted Scip on the back, "Good to see you again friend." he said quietly as we all walked toward the door.

Scip smiled, "You too. Erm… can someone ring for an ambulance, I don't fancy walking across to the hospital from here."

Alexi took out his phone and made the call, telling them to meet us outside in the Plaza. We all walked out and stood in a tight circle around Scipio, just in case any of Aletta's friends came back. None did, but the ambulance arrived pretty quickly, I guess the fact that he was known throughout Italy and most of the world as the "Massimo boy, hostage and son of a Billionaire" might have had something to do it.

Scip asked if I could ride in the ambulance with him and the others said they'd meet us there. We sat in the back of the ambulance and I held his hand silently. He just laid on the gurney and smiled at me, he never took his eyes off me actually. If it hadn't been Scip it would have been weird.

After a while the pain killer the paramedics had given him set in and he fell asleep, he looked like he needed it. We arrived at the Hospital and I had to wait for ages until the others got there, I wasn't allowed in to the room where Scipio lay sleeping.

"How is he?" Prop asked when they arrived.

I shrugged, "They won't tell me." I kept staring at the door to his room.

I felt an arm around my shoulders, "He'll be fine, he's pretty tough really." Hornet assured me as we sat quietly waiting for Scip to wake up.

Finally the doctor came out and smiled at us, "You can go in and see him now, he's awake." Gingerly we all crept into the room and I almost cried again at the pitiful sight in front of me.

Scipio smiled at us, but he looked awful, "Hey guys, pull up a chair."

**A/N: Pretty please review, a review is like a hug, I love hugs. **


	13. Scipio: family Values

**A/N: Hello there beloved followers. Here is the penultimate chapter. the final one is a lovely epilogue courtesy of Eva. Until then ol' beans. **

Scipio

I looked up to see eight faces peer around my door, "Hey guys, pull up a chair." I grinned. They filed into the room, worried glances sent my way. I studied each of the faces as the gang settled down into their respective seats. Eva took the seat on the right side next to me, her hand gently resting on my arm and her brow furrowed in worry for me. Alexi took up his usual position of standing at the back of the room, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed against his chest and a gentle frown shading his face. Hornet sat in the chair at the other side of me, a cool, collected mask hiding her care for me. Prop stood just behind her, a hand so obviously, but subtly placed on her chair, his face taking on the leader's pose, a small smile towards me, a glance at Hornet, checking what his mischievous brother was doing, and then back to me. Bo, for his part, was sat on the floor with Aletta, each stealing embarrassed glances at the other. Mosca and Riccio stood awkwardly by the door, obviously not comfortable with being in this place, and I don't blame them, I wanted to leave too.

For ages no-one said anything, it was as though the room was stifling their ability to speak at all. Eventually I got bored and let out a dramatic sigh, "Guys, smile, talk do something. I'm dying from boredom here!" I whined. I caught Prop chuckling at me from behind Hornet's chair.

There was an awkward moment of everyone trying to speak at once, before Prop took charge, "How did you escape then?" he asked, blunt as ever.

"I had a little help," I shrugged, and hissed as pain shot up my arm. I glanced down accusingly. Stupid arm.

"From Donatella, we know." Hornet nodded, speaking for the first time.

I frowned, "How?"

She smiled, "we set the time and date, Prop, me, and Eva."

Alexi muttered something about it being Prop, Eva and I, but it was almost inaudible so ignored him. Let him have his grammatical correctness.

I looked at Eva next to me, "You went with them? To a meet? Why?" I turned to Prop, "Why did you let her go to a meet, they could have been watching you."

Prop gave me an icy cold glare, "I never allowed her, or Hornet to come, they followed me. You know I wouldn't put anyone of my gang at risk." His words hurt; he'd called them 'his' gang. Prop suddenly realised what he'd said, I saw the realisation in his eyes, but he said nothing. If I hadn't known Prop as well as I did, I wouldn't have noticed the almost imperceptible change in his eyes, the guilt and, panic? Maybe.

I was about to say something to soothe Prop's worried mind, when the door opened again and someone I wasn't expecting walked in. My father, with his secretary Brianna at his elbow, strolled into the room like he owned it. Come to think of it, he might have. He sauntered in; still talking to Brianna about some meeting he was planning. And suddenly I felt sick, physically sick. I felt Eva's hand tighten slightly on my arm; I glanced at her and gave her a reassuring smile before looking back at my father.

"…I'm not signing a contract with anyone until I've seen who'll give the best price." My father looked up from his phone, surveying the room with disdain; his eyes came to rest on me. I felt my blood begin to boil; I'd forgotten how much I hated that man.

"What are you doing here?" I asked coldly.

My father actually looked surprised at my sudden outburst; he raised an eyebrow and let out a small, uncomfortable cough. "I came to check that you were alright after your ordeal, as any good father would." he said curtly.

"Correction, a good father wouldn't have left his son to escape from a gang of organised criminals, he would have paid the ransom!" I snapped, all my hatred for this pathetic excuse of a father erupting within me. (That's not a pretty mental image is it… oh well)

I realised how loudly I had shouted that by the silence that followed, it was eerie, cold and awkward, and no-one dared break it for fear of unleashing more anger. I took the opportunity to look at the people gathered around me, to see what effect my outburst had had. Prop and Alexi both kept their cool masks, but underneath there was genuine surprise. Bo and Aletta, who had never seen me angry, looked horrified. Hornet still looked concerned for me, but she was a medical woman, she always looked concerned. Riccio and Mosca had become like silent, gaping fish after their small fight that had been ensuing in the corner. My father was fighting to control the anger in his eyes and keep his fury at being embarrassed in this way from his face. Brianna kept her head down, pretending to examine my father's diary, her face was bright red with embarrassment, she wasn't used to this sort of situation – father always sent her away when he was about to have an argument with me.

I couldn't bring myself to look at Eva though, something in my head was stopping me… shame? Fear? Both? Probably. I coughed and shifted in my bed.

Suddenly the door flew open again. If my father's appearance had been unexpected and unwanted then the next person who entered was even more so. My mother swept into the room and squeaked her overly dramatic concern for her "baby boy". She scurried to my side, moving between Eva and me and enveloping me in a hug. She stank of expensive and overpowering perfume and squeezed me way too tight, I hissed in pain. She stumbled back, "Baby what is it?" she asked, her voice trembling, "What do you need?"

She came forward to hug me again but I swerved out of her way, "What are you doing?" I asked.

She stood up and frowned, "You're my baby, I had to come and see you, as soon as the hospital told me they had found you, I came straight away after my meeting."

I almost laughed, but instead shook my head, "You two are unbelievable." Mother stepped back in alarm, and father barely noticed I'd spoken, "What made you think I'd even want you here?"

Father looked up at this point, "We're your family, of course you'd want us here."

I laughed, full on laughed until my ribs ached, "You're not my family!" I spat, "this lot are my family," I gestured at the gang, "they cared enough for me to get me out of that hell hole, you two, you just sat around waiting for me to do it by myself and then make a fuss in front of the press."

Mother began to cry and ran from the room, father sniffed and gave me an icy stare, "I hope you're happy with yourself Scipio, see what you have done now." And with that he swept from the room, a very bemused Brianna following closely behind him.

I took a deep breath and looked at the people left in the room. "I meant it," I said quietly, "You guys are my real family."

The room lit up with the gang's smiles, I realised how much I'd missed them all while I was gone. I opened my arms out, motioning for them to come and join me on the bed, everyone did, even a reluctant Alexi. We sat and talked about everything for ages, until visiting hours were well over. Eventually I decided I'd had enough, "I'll go back to Father, if he'll take me." I said quietly, hoping no-one had heard me.

Everyone protested at once, "No, you can't!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"Stay with us at the Stella!

"You could always move in with me." Eva said gently, she looked me straight in the eye and smiled, it was a pure, genuine smile, and I knew instantly she meant her offer wholeheartedly.

I shook my head, "I've got to," I insisted, "after all, how else will I pay for this lot to live at the Stella and go to school?" I asked.

"You're coming back to Saint Pat's?" Alexi asked.

I nodded my reply.

"Why would you want to do that?" he asked.

I wrapped my arm around Eva's skinny waist, "I think this answers that question."

We stayed all together, talking and being nuisances in the ward until the early hours of the morning, Eva and I were laid on the bed talking in whispers, Bo and Aletta were both asleep at the foot of the bed, curled up together. Prop had taken Eva's chair and Hornet had the other. Alexi had borrowed some blankets from the linen cupboard and made some makeshift beds on the floor for the rest of them. Eventually Eva fell asleep, leaving me alone in the darkness. Surrounded by my family. It was a good feeling.

**A/N: Reviews will make me happy. Please review. Thank you. :)**


	14. Eva: Epilogue

**A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, this is it. The Epilogue and final chapter. It has been a pleasure. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have, please leave me a final review. You'll make my day. :)**

Eva

Life went back to normal pretty quickly on our return to Saint Pat's, we were heroes for a while, but that soon died down with exams on their way. Scipio and I spent even more time together than before, spending every spare moment I had with him; I couldn't cope without him for even two hours now.

I was sat on the table in Art, half-heartedly doodling ideas for my final piece when Scip wandered over, one pencil gripped between his teeth and another drawing as he walked. As he passed I stole the pencil from his mouth, "If you fall with that in your mouth you could die." I pointed out to him.

He grinned and watched as I twirled it in the air and placed it behind my ear. He sighed and cleared the desk next to me. "Stay a bit stiller when I draw you please." he smiled as he settled into his seat.

I winked at him and went back to my drawing, knowing Scip would start drawing when I had relaxed into my task. I began sketching a black mask, like the one I had seen hanging on the wall in the Stella. I'd asked Prop about that mask, but he just smiled wistfully at it, "It belongs to the thief lord," he'd told me.

I could imagine Scipio fitting the title of a lord rather well, and so I began drawing him into the picture, under the mask. It suited him. I glanced back at him sat next to me, his brow creased in concentration and his eyes flickering between me and the paper. He noticed I was watching him and smiled; I returned the smile and turned back to my work. I felt Scip lean over to get a peek at my work, and I heard him chuckle. "Who's that?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could.

"The thief lord." I replied.

We carried on drawing until the lesson was over, and then we swapped drawings for the other to see. Scipio's picture of me was stunning; he'd drawn me leaning on my left hand, his pencil still stuck behind my ear and a small smile playing on my lips. I kissed him lightly on the cheek and handed him back his work, "It's beautiful." I told him.

"So are you." he smiled and pulled me into a deeper, much longer kiss.

We parted when Scip jolted away; Alexi had just tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on lovebirds," Lex chuckled, "You have mail to collect."

The third Monday of every month we all collected our mail, letters from our family and friends at home. We ran down to the main office and joined the rapidly growing queue for the mail room. Once we finally reached the room itself I swiped my card and then Scip's and Alexi's too. With all three bundles in my arms I turned and handed the boys their letters. We made our way to the Hollow to read them in peace. I had the obligatory letter from Mum and Dad back in London, and a letter from Caitlin, my sister, telling me off for going to Italy without her. She seemed to forget it was supposed to be a rescue mission not a holiday.

I turned to Alexi, "Who are yours from?" I asked.

"Parents." He muttered as he scanned the offending letter.

I shook my head and turned to Scip, "Yours?"

"Family, Hornet says hello." he replied jovially. He threw me the letter and let me read it for myself, there was a section on the back entitled, _FOR EVA_

It read like this:

_Eva, I just wanted to say hi, Hornet here. _

_I'm really missing having you around, but at least I'm not the only girl now that Aletta is staying with us. Her mother still hasn't come to get her by the way. Poor kid. Please write back soon. _

_H_

I smiled as I handed Scip back the letter, "It was nice of them to write, anything from your parents?" I asked casually.

Scipio's face darkened, "No. Not that I was expecting any."

"Never mind!" I said, launching myself at him to hug him, "You still have us."

We ended up in a giggling heap once I finally managed to wrestle Alexi into the hug too. We lay down on the cool grass and I closed my eyes. "What do we have now?" Scip asked.

Alexi murmured beside me, "Free period. Time to relax, mate. Life is good"

I smiled, he was right. Life is good. I have a wonderful boyfriend, fantastic new friends; a family that love me… yup, life is most definitely good.

**A/N: Please review, it doesn't take much, but it means an awful lot.**


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